With the advent of cured concrete brick pavers, their use in home architecture, industrial architecture and landscaping has proliferated. Numerous styles and sizes of pavers and interlocking paver systems have been developed in order to enhance the functioning, as well as the aesthetics, of paver systems. Some paver systems include a method and apparatus for planning and installing pavers to achieve the maximum aesthetic effect, as well as the greatest functional value.
In providing an illuminated paver, there are special considerations that need to be addressed. One consideration relates to the strength of the paver for vehicle support. Another consideration relates to water drainage, since water and condensation may fill the inside of an electrical apparatus, thereby damaging the electrical apparatus, or presenting a shock hazard among other undesirable consequences. As a result, an illuminated paver must be strong and provide a waterproof housing or enclosure to hold the electrical components inside, thereby providing a durable, long lasting product.
Illuminated pavers have been developed previously (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,390,090; 5,678,920 and 6,027,280). It is noted that while the devices disclosed in the foregoing patents are designed to fit in place of a paver and provide light, none are actually masonry-based pavers. Notably, none of the pavers that are the subject of the foregoing patents has the inherent strength, color or texture of the masonry paver that it replaces.
One problem encountered with current illuminated pavers is that of vertical support. Normally vertical support is provided to each interlocking concrete brick paver from an adjacent such paver by the vertical face thickness of the adjacent paver. Typically, the vertical face of such pavers is within a range between approximately 2⅜ inches to 3 ⅛ inches or greater in height. This vertical thickness allows each paver to move slightly in a vertical direction, without significant tilting, when the paver is under load, such as when a vehicle rolls over it. This inherent feature of concrete pavers allows a load to be shared among adjacent pavers. The problem associated with other geometric-shaped non-concrete illuminated pavers occurs because the lens portion of such an illuminated paver overhangs the cast plastic body of the illuminated paver, precluding the vertical faces of other pavers from providing support to the illuminated paver.
Another type of illuminated paver includes a concrete paver with a small fiber optic light source. The fiber optics that are housed within such pavers are generally fragile and susceptible to breakage. The glass lens of the light source is also susceptible to damage by snow chains, studded tires and the like, which are on the vehicles rolling over them. A damaged fiber optic component may require substantial time and expense to effect a repair. For instance, a broken fiber optic line may require that an entire length or “run” of fiber optic line be replaced, which may further require a section of buried cable to be dug up. This procedure can be both difficult and expensive. Furthermore, the amount of light provided by such fiber optic paver lights is usually inadequate to sufficiently illuminate the paved area.
Additional issues that have arisen in relation to illuminated pavers include the power source and power consumption. High voltage, alternating current (commonly referred to as “AC”) is generally avoided for outdoor applications such as paver lights because of the risk of shock due to water infiltration. Complicated grounding procedures to reduce the risk of shock are required when using AC current and as such, deter the use of AC powered illuminated pavers.
Low voltage applications for illuminated pavers, on the other hand, have been in use for some time. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,280 discloses a light powered by a 12-volt direct current (commonly referred to as “DC”). DC powered lights for pavers require only a small amount of power and, thus, there is little risk of electric shock due to water infiltration and grounding assurances are not needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,144 to Gavigan (the “Gavigan '144 Patent”) discloses a low voltage lighting system that includes a brick having an upper surface and a lower surface opposite thereof, and a bore extending from the upper surface to the lower surface. The bore includes a countersunk enlargement located proximate to the upper surface of the brick. As disclosed in the Gavigan '144 Patent, the countersunk enlargement is substantially larger in shape and size than that of the remaining portion of the bore. This enables the brick to accommodate the particular structure of a modular light assembly disclosed therein. However, the problem with this configuration is that drilling and boring the countersunk enlargement and the remaining portion of the bore is difficult and time consuming, requiring careful and close attention to boring depth so as to allow the modular light assembly to sit flush with the upper surface of the brick. Moreover, if the lighting system disclosed in the Gavigan '144 Patent is to be mass produced, it would be very difficult to mold a brick with a bore having a countersunk enlargement then to simply produce a brick with an equal sized bore all the way through it. Finally, the drilling and boring of the bore having the countersunk enlargement is facilitated by a proprietary drill bit, which is only available from a company identified as In-Lite Design Corporation of Ontario, Canada. As a result, any individual or company that may be interested in selling or installing the lighting system covered by the Gavigan '144 Patent must first obtain separate drill bits (both original and replacement bits) from In-Lite, thereby increasing the expense for producing the lighting system disclosed therein.